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Monday, May 28, 2012

Today in honor of Memorial Day I am publishing, with permission, the thoughts of my son-in-law currently a member of the US Army Band. His job is to play taps for the fallen soldiers among other things.

I got to know a lot of soldiers on the ride down Route Irish. Their buddies always told stories about them after they picked me up. They were usually funny stories, or stories about what a great soldier their friend was. As we got closer to the FOB they would tell me how he died, there was an element of anger and frustration, but mostly in their voices I heard sadness at his loss and their respect for him. It took me a few trips to get over my selfishness of not wanting to know about the Soldier I was going to play taps for. It was like they needed someone from the outside to know their buddy, they needed the release of telling these stories to someone who hadn't heard them already. After the memorial I was kind of an afterthought, there were usually more important missions than getting me back to BIAP. This is when I would hear about their families and where they were from and who they left behind. I saw the guys who brought me gear back up and go out to patrol the same streets where they lost their buddy. Eventually I would get back to base and try to put it all in the back of my mind. Today, as I grill some burgers and dogs and enjoy time with my family these are the men that I will be remembering.

Thanks Scott for a new perspective of this day.

(Route Irish is the name given to the main road from Baghdad to the airport)

Friday, May 25, 2012

In the tradition of Family Food Friday, I am writing about a meal I recently experienced that could have easily been a family tradition. If my grandfather had not left Norway in 1892, this meal would probably have been a part of my routine. My daughter Laura and I were fortunate to visit the home of a cousin whose grandfather did not leave Norway and she prepared a traditional Norwegian meal for my daughter and I. The meal consisted of Norwegian porridge, salt ham, salt sausage, a very thin version of wassa brodt, and potato salad.

The potato salad appeared to use a mixture of sour cream and mayonnaise for the dressing and consisted mainly of potatoes and onions. The porridge was also made of sour cream and I found a similar recipe on-line that I am including here. Even the condiments, sugar, cinnamon, and butter, are the same. I used all of them on my portion and Laura used only the sugar and cinnamon. I would have to agree with her that the sugar and cinnamon only would be my favorite combination. Here is the recipe I found on-line at http://www.desktopcookbook.com/images-recipe/54856

ROMMEGROT (SOUR CREAM PORRIDGE)

Ingredients

2 cups sour cream

1/2 cup flour

1-1//2 cups milk

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

butter

sugar

cinnamon

Instructions

Bring sour cream and cream to a soft boil for 5 minutes. Sift and stir in 3

tablespoons flour - one spoon at a time. Keep at low heat while adding the

remainder of the flour and milk intermittently. After all is added, bring up to a

boil on low heat and cook for an additional 5 minutes while stirring. This

Saturday, May 5, 2012

1) Write a story using the phrase "ancestor I most admire" in 100 words. [Hint: If you write it in a word processor, you can use Tools > Word Count (or similar) to count words]2) Share the story with all of us by writing your own blog post, writing a comment on this blog post, or put it in a Google Plus Stream or Facebook Status or Note. Please leave a comment on this post so others can find it.

The ancestor I most admire is my aunt Kathleen Connery. Kathleen was one of my mother’s older sisters
and I think was probably more of a mother than a big sister. Kathleen was born April 10, 1895 in Chicago,
IL. After finishing school she went to
work in her father’s Real Estate, Travel, and Insurance office. Kathleen never married and cared for her
parents until their deaths. Kathleen was
an avid traveler and often escorted her mother and sisters to Rome and Ireland
where Kathleen’s parents were born. Kathleen was very religious and belonged to
the third order of St Dominic. Selfless
and generous to a fault, Kathleen died in Florida on Aug 12, 1986.

The word count is 115 words and I didn't begin to fully describe Kathleen Frances Connery.